Two Bank Robbers Escape Prison in Chicago, First One Has Been Caught

Two men convicted of bank robbery broke out of prison in Chicago, leading to a massive manhunt to bring the men to justice. The FBI jumped onto the case, and Special Agent Joan Hyde said Joseph “Jose” Banks (above-right) has been captured in Chicago. He was arrested by officers from the Chicago Police Department, according to Hyde.

Kenneth Conley (above – left) is still at-large.

The two men busted a hole in the bottom of a six-inch window and dropped ropes made out of bed sheets. The two men then climbed down 20 stories to freedom. The police didn’t realize that they were free for hours, until a surveillance video saw the two men getting into a cab. They’d changed their clothes by that time.

They planned their escape carefully, even using clothing to pretend that their bodies were under the blankets. Police still don’t know what the men used to break the wall or how they obtained 200 feet of bed sheets in order to climb down the building. Banks stole over $600,000 from various banks and acted as his own attorney during his trial. He said that US laws don’t apply to him because he is a sovereign citizen in a group that doesn’t have to submit to US legal authority.